Jesse Mulligan Restaurant Recommendations: Hawke’s Bay Wedding Catering, Auckland BYO Spots & More

In this fortnightly series, Viva’s resident dining-out editor shares advice on where and what to eat.

Do you have any restaurant-related questions or dining-out dilemmas? Jesse Mulligan is here to help.

Email Jesse at Viva@nzherald.co.nz and tell him what you need. Where and what do you like to eat? How much do you want to spend? If you’re visiting, where are you staying while you’re in town? Who are you eating with? Does anybody have access issues?

Here are some questions he’s been asked lately and his answers.

Hi Jesse,

I am an Aussie on a mission to try and do something a little different for my wedding catering. Would love to hear your recommendations on chefs local/near the Hawke’s Bay area who might be an option to work with for food on the big day.

Think local, seasonal produce – that’s my vibe and would loooove to show my Aussie guests an amazing New Zealand experience through food and obviously, wine!

Many thanks,

Caity

And well done, you have already chosen the absolute best place in New Zealand to have a wedding (if it’s good enough for the former Prime Minister, etc). Hawke’s Bay is stunning and the food and wine is as good as it gets. Here are some ideas for local chefs who might be keen to help:

Casey MacDonald used to run the food at one of Melbourne’s big cafe/restaurant groups (you may have heard of Cumulus?) and moved back home to Hawke’s Bay for the lifestyle. He now heads up Craggy Range, where he’s built a brilliant and expanding food garden that supplies the restaurant. If you want the best, he’s the first call you should make (the restaurant also recently won the culinary section of the Hawke’s Bay Wine Tourism Awards, for which I was a lucky judge).

Regnar Christensen knows yummy. He made a splash in Wellington and then Auckland before seeing the light and moving his family to Hawke’s Bay, where he runs the kitchen at Craggy Range’s great (but friendly) rival, Black Barn. I’m thinking you might need a research trip to put Casey and Regnar head to head??

I love the food of Grant Soeburg, who made his name at Black Estate in North Canterbury but moved to Hawke’s Bay a year or two ago. His wife Alice knows restaurants inside out and together they’ve launched Goldies in Napier, but may be able to do an extra commission.

One of my loveliest Hawke’s Bay meals was cooked at my accommodation with Paolo Pancotti, a private chef. He is old-school Italian and a charismatic, engaging person to have around – your guests would love him! Find out more here.

Good luck!

Jesse

Hi Jesse,

Liv

Hi Liv,

I feel your pain. For months I had a beautiful recipe that called for buckwheat flour and I really felt I would have to give up on the idea until someone told me about Bulk Food Savings, the unimaginatively but accurately titled store behind Wendy’s on Dominion Rd.

Liv, you are going to love this place! Some of the ingredients you mention you can buy in other places but this is a one-stop-shop for not only health and whole food, but ingredients specific to cuisines like Mexican and Italian. Service is friendly and no-fuss, and there’s not much flash here – just sealed plastic bags filled with high-quality ingredients. But if it’s rabbit mole or insufferably healthy granola you’re making, this should be your new HQ.

Hi Jesse,

My son’s boss is organising a birthday dinner for her father in March. She lives in Sydney and her parents live outside of Auckland but wants to hold the dinner in Auckland.

The parents are foodies apparently. Do you have any suggestions for a really nice BYO restaurant, as the daughter is paying for everyone and there will be quite a few of them?

Many thanks and kind regards,

Shelley

Hi Shelley, happy to help!

I’m hearing great things about Hugo’s on Shortland St lately, and I happen to know they do a BYO on Tuesdays. Last I heard the lovely team at Lillius were offering BYO on Sundays. Bar Magda might be a really fun “off K Rd” experience and they do BYO Sundays and Mondays with no corkage when you order the $85 set menu. That should get you started – and to restaurateurs: if you should be on this list, get in touch!

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